Biochemistry of sodium channels from mammalian muscle.

Sodium channels from rat and rabbit skeletal muscle have been isolated, characterized, and functionally reconstituted. These channel proteins closely resemble those purified from the eel electroplax and from rat brain. Work now in progress on the determination of the primary sequence of the 260 kDa subunit through the cloning and sequencing of the muscle message should shed further light on the relationship between these unique voltage-sensitive sodium channels.